One in every seven people in this country will experience homelessness during their lifetime. Just ask Macy DeLong, a former biology researcher at Harvard University. For nine months, DeLong slept on subway gratings, alleys, in her car, or in the graveyard only blocks away from her lab at Harvard where she managed a staff of twenty-five people.

Social workers and doctors reacted as if she were delusional when she told them that she’d been a Harvard biologist. DeLong recalled, “I had wandered through what the state had to offer a homeless person, from dangerous shelters to indifferent doctors. No one offered me an opportunity to work, to sign a lease, to get back my life.”

Macy DeLong, Solutions at Work Founder and Executive Director Emeritus

DeLong’s experience on the streets altered her perspective forever. In 1989 she joined forces with a group of other homeless people to found Solutions at Work.

Today, all of Solutions at Work’s staff and two board member has experienced homelessness. These team members help ensure that Solutions at Work’s programs and services continue to meet the needs of people living in poverty. They also ensure that Solutions at Work remains inclusive, respectful, and compassionate. These are values that informed the birth of the organization almost three decades ago.

Paris Swindle, our Co-Director, gave an interview to CBS-Boston, WBZ-TV about our Clothing Exchange in 2022.